Hornby announce J15

[chris bales]

I wouldn't be so sure about that - I thought I was also waiting for the next batch, but they charged my card

Your right my friend. It arrived today. I pre ordered them both so its my own fault but would have been nice closer to the end of the month bit light now till pay day

[teaky]

Plenty on sale at Model Rail Scotland today, all of them around the £100 mark. I picked up the LNER version and am really quite pleased with the level of detail and the price, well done Hornby. That's despite the loco being 'off region' for my layout, although saying that, there is some authenticity in having a J15 in Scotland: one example (LNER number 7690) was sold into industrial service up here with Bairds & Scottish Steel Co and wasn't withdrawn until around 1960.

A quick question for the other purchasers out there: does your detailing/extra fittings pack come with a vacuum bag for the front bufferbeam and a screw coupling? My loco comes with a single plastic bag (unopened) with brake rigging, NEM pocket/coupling for the smokebox end and a vacuum pipe for the tender, but no extra fittings for the front bufferbeam. Do I have bits missing, or is the lack of bufferbeam hoses correct for this loco assuming it was an unfitted example?

See post 288 above.

[chris bales]

A weathered model is already on Ebay  £140.00 not a bad price for the extra work done

[robmcg]

7524 was steam brake only so no pipes, Westinghouse or vacuum, front or rear.

Bernard

A further question, probably impossible; which LNER versions had vacuum brakes? I have bought an LNER version with the intention of matching it to teak Gresley or Thompson suburban carriages, and did vacuum-fitted engines have pipes front and rear?

 

Sorry to be so troublesome.

 

Rob

[stewartingram]

OK a bit more info on mine with the tender pickup problem on one side.

After further tracing through, I actually found 2 faults:

1. The original tender fault is an open circuit wire inside the tender.

2. Having earlier tweaked the loco pickups to guarantee 100% reliability, I then used a multimeter to check every piece of the circuitry. Immagine my surprise when I found one side of the loco open circuit! It must have been intermittent, as I had run power through that side previously.

Stripping the loco down, I found the axle keeper plate (2 screws) has the pickups firmly in place, with two holes (recesses) in the upper side. Screwed to the chassis block is a small square pcb, with 2 brass/(or gold?) plungers which are supposed to touch the pickups through the holes. One of these plungers has no spring, so I pulled it out to max length and soldered it, thus ensuring good connection to the pickups. A similar pcb is also used in the tender; I am considering removing the plungers and hard-wiring instead.

On the tender, I was going to repair the o/c black wire but found the tiny wire and pcb pads difficult to solder (and I'm usually good at it in my profession!). So I gave up tonight, Over the weekend I will simplify the wiring for simple DC only as I suspected I probably would.

Then comes re-assembly, add detail pack + other bits, and weathering....

Still no regrets though, not knocking Hornby at all.

 

Stewart

[gr.king]

Still no images of a shop-bought example of the LNER version? Are they selling so slowly that I'll be able to pick them up for a fiver apiece shortly?

[chris bales]

Just been giving my two a run on the loft layout OMG as the youngsters say. The post about the Rolex watch was right Absolutely superb And I have dead points streight over no problem what so ever. its perfect to me    So I will shut up now and leave the experts to find the faults

[New Haven Neil]

I gave in and bought an early crest version while we have some left!  It's........fantastic, far better than I expected.  Now I just need to concoct a story as to how it got onto the Southern region!

[Bernard Lamb]

A further question, probably impossible; which LNER versions had vacuum brakes? I have bought an LNER version with the intention of matching it to teak Gresley or Thompson suburban carriages, and did vacuum-fitted engines have pipes front and rear?

 

Sorry to be so troublesome.

 

Rob

Hi Rob

You could renumber the LNER model as 7532 or 7887. They would have the standard pipes front and rear. The other choices of LNER numbers had the tender cab. 7532 would not have the steam heat pipe. 

They could only run with Gresley coaches to be strictly accurate as the cab roof changed in the late 1930s.

Bernard

[Ian Abel]

Sod me!! If Neil can buy one I may have to open my wallet too!!!!  I guess I can run it around with a bunch of goods wagons...

Edited February 20, 2015 by Ian Abel

[Bernard Lamb]

Sod me!! If Neil can buy one I may have to open my wallet too!!!!  I guess I can run it around with a bunch of goods wagons...

Go on.

Resistance is futile.

Join the club.

Bernard

[Legend]

Most traders had ample stocks at Model Rail Scotland today. Price around £95-£104. Tempted but it really is way out of region for me. Was looking for Rood Ashton Hall which strangely, by comparison there were only one or two.

[Ian Hargrave]

Most traders had ample stocks at Model Rail Scotland today. Price around £95-£104. Tempted but it really is way out of region for me. Was looking for Rood Ashton Hall which strangely, by comparison there were only one or two.

Off topic slightly,I know.Your money is better spent on a J 15. 4965 pales into insignificance by comparison.....it's history.The future is small,black and beautiful.

[robmcg]

Hi Rob

You could renumber the LNER model as 7532 or 7887. They would have the standard pipes front and rear. The other choices of LNER numbers had the tender cab. 7532 would not have the steam heat pipe. 

They could only run with Gresley coaches to be strictly accurate as the cab roof changed in the late 1930s.

Bernard

Thankyou! Discovering these touches of authenticity is the very essence of model railways. I shall perhaps find suitable vac and or steam pipes in my spares bin, or perhaps use Peters Spares. I shall use my BR 1948-on book of allocations and hope to find the shed location of a chosen LNER engine.

 

Probably I will wipe a smear of thinned black semi-gloss over the numbers and LNER lettering, also blacken the rods and wheel rims with similar method. It works quite well when the smearing is don't with finger! Will leave the plastic/paint original finish in the meantime. Can't wait. Gresleys don't often get an outing...

[robmcg]

Still no images of a shop-bought example of the LNER version? Are they selling so slowly that I'll be able to pick them up for a fiver apiece shortly?

Ebay sellers have some good pics. Example (no relation)

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hornby-R3230-OO-Gauge-LNER-J15-0-6-0-Tender-Locomotive-LNER-Black-/151592028272?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item234b96c870

[EHertsGER]

Oh, dear;

 

1. Stop futzing about and get on with finishing those never-ending-saga Gibson kits I keep going on about,

2. Put a (nother) padlock on my wallet

3. Celebrate all those who have bought one of these things and have praised them

4. Glow with appreciation of Hornby's seemingly (very) successful GER-based model (the emphasis on GER, here)

5. Cross fingers and wait for D16/3

6. Close eyes and wish for more GER stuff (sadly, my box of kits also includes beautiful etched N7s and F4/5/6/7s so if that is where the trade is going, I will be quietly peeved...)

 

In conclusion its obviously good and I am very happy for those who have them. Dammit, if I had known about these before I plunked down £750 (that's for 5 kits...now add motors, wheels etc etc) I wouldn't have bothered, BUT

 

What do our P4 folks think? Brassmasters have mentioned an Easichas which I am sure will appear once someone has dissected the model as it is now. Exactoscale have the wheels spot on - I have five sets, of course! And yes, I could happily wait, if it wasn't for that box of kits (we're getting there...now I have figured out fabricating the brakes for loco and tender etc etc). So wither the P4 J15s...

Otherwise a sound 'well done' to Hornby and a slight envious streak in the light of the ease with which our 00 brethren have found nirvana.

I'll just keep looking at the pictures you are posting here for inspiration.

Now, to the bench...

Best,

Marcus

Edited February 21, 2015 by EHertsGER

[chris bales]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/29644579@N07/7227182642/in/photolist-

Don't go looking for Branch lines or light Railway insperation its not good for you. You will only end up buying more books and doodling track plans on any bits of paper you can find

[PaulG]

I purchased R3232 65445 which was allocated to Colchester, but knew I would have to  replace the late "circle & banner" crest the model carries, with the early "lion-on-wheel" emblem.

 

So I thought it would be a simple task to remove the crest and replace with the emblem. Wrong; the loco had a change of tender and although the slotted frame tender the model carries is correct for the end of its period at Stratford as illustrated by Dick Riley's colour photos of the loco, photographs of the loco at Colchester just prior to its move to Stratford show it with D shape tender frame!

 

So not only did I have to change the crest, I also had to change the number to Colchester stable mate 65446 - fortunately the HMRS numbers match exactly with those of Hornby, so no problem!

 

As they say, nothing is easy, but it provide some fun last night.

 

I think the two most powerful locos on the layout are the J15 and the Heljan W&M railbus, both easily pull 50 plus wagon and twelve coach trains round the layout.

 

Paul

 

Paul

[orford]

Hello all,

 

I would like to come back on one or two points raised earlier in this thread.

 

Firstly, regarding the question of using the 'short' connection between loco and tender, on my layout I have a mixture of Peco large and medium radius turnouts, together with one 'short' 'Y' turnout at the entrance to the fiddle yard - and I can absolutely confirm that the J15's will happily negotiate all of these on the closer draw bar setting. Mine are all doing so daily with no problems whatsoever.

 

However, there are a couple of necessary 'tweaks' to make this possible:

 

Firstly, as mentioned by someone earlier in the thread it is necessary to remove a very small amount of metal with a fine flat needle file from the rear of the 'fall plate' at the left hand side, to give additional clearance for the tender's brake standard when the loco is curving to the left.  If you swing the loco-tender in each direction you will discover that it turns more tightly to the right than to the left and the tender brake standard is the reason why. When curving left, it hits the rear of the fall plate. So this slight modification sorts that out. It cannot be seen from any normal viewing angle when it is all reconnected.

 

Secondly, remove the draw bar and cut off the outer 'hole' of the two at the tender end. This will leave you with an 'open end' hole but provided you don't cut off too much this will still engage quite happily and positively with the screw. Smooth off the cut end with a fine needle file and then replace the drawbar BACK-TO-FRONT ...with the cut end at the loco, rather than the tender. This absolutely prevents any possible chafing or snagging of the loco-tender wiring. As a bonus it also makes subsequent disconnection of the loco and tender much easier, as you no longer need to remove the screw entirely to do so. All you now have to do is slacken off the screw at the loco end and simply slide the drawbar out.

 

I should perhaps also mention that in general terms, you will also need curves of 30" radius or greater for the short loco-tender connection to be workable.

 

More generally, my own three J15's are nearing the stage where they can officially 'enter service'.  All have now been fitted with Kadee couplers (after modifying the extremely sloppy NEM pockets to hold the Kadees in proper alignment) and all have now been fitted with DCC and ZIMO sound, using the MX645 decoders together with Zimo SC68 'super-capacitors'. Two of the decoders were fitted via the provided plug but on the other loco I removed the Hornby decoder socket and 'hard-wired' the decoder, which gives more room in the tender. I did this as I wanted a lesser coal load in this particular engine.  As for the sound files, until such time as someone releases a genuine sound file for the J15 - which will not be for a while as the only surviving prototype is still in bits - I used Tony Molyneux's 'Terrier' sound file in each engine, as this is quite appropriate for a small 6-coupled loco with a similar LNER-type whistle and a Westinghouse pump.  For speakers, I used Loksound 28mm diameter speakers located in the recess provided in the tender floor and secured in place by the original shaped metal weight. the tender body itself acts as a very suitable sound chamber...but make sure there are no holes in it as it needs to be sealed for best sound reproduction. There is a video on You Tube of one of the locos in action (with apologies for the 'creaking tripod' noise - which doesn't exactly help. I will re-do the video when I have time without this distraction.

 

All have also now been renumbered and re-lettered as appropriate, two having the full ' BRITISH RAILWAYS' legend on the tender sides, as I am modelling the transition period between LNER and BR. Some detail painting has been done, mainly in the cabs. Incidentally, it should be noted that a very considerable proportion of the prototype engines had BLACK painted buffer-shanks, rather than the red ones on the Hornby model (although there were a few red ones - check your prototype!). I still have to sort this.

 

I am currently fabricating the tender tarpaulin support bars from brass strip and steel wire although these will not finally be added until last of all as they are necessarily extremely fragile until fitted.

 

Next up after that will be weathering - and all three will be weathered quite differently, ranging from filthy on the steam-braked example to 'fresh-from-overhaul' on one of the 'Westie' versions.  Finally I can then add the crews and coal up the tenders with real coal before adding the tarpaulin bars last of all.

 

Getting there.

 

- Don

Edited February 21, 2015 by orford

[melmerby]

Still no images of a shop-bought example of the LNER version? Are they selling so slowly that I'll be able to pick them up for a fiver apiece shortly?

Where I initially intended to buy sold out as did my second choice.

 

So I ordered one from Hattons at 23:59 Thursday night.

Arrived early via Royal Mail today. Excellent service as I have always had from them.

 

Will post picture once it's been checked over. It does look very good though.

 

Keith

[toboldlygo]

Hello all,

 

I would like to come back on one or two points raised earlier in this thread.

 

Firstly, regarding the question of using the 'short' connection between loco and tender, on my layout I have a mixture of Peco large and medium radius turnouts, together with one 'short' 'Y' turnout at the entrance to the fiddle yard - and I can absolutely confirm that the J15's will happily negotiate all of these on the closer draw bar setting. Mine are all doing so daily with no problems whatsoever.

 

However, there are a couple of necessary 'tweaks' to make this possible:

 

Firstly, as mentioned by someone earlier in the thread it is necessary to remove a very small amount of metal with a fine flat needle file from the rear of the 'fall plate' at the left hand side, to give additional clearance for the tender's brake standard when the loco is curving to the left.  If you swing the loco-tender in each direction you will discover that it turns more tightly to the right than to the left and the tender brake standard is the reason why. When curving left, it hits the rear of the fall plate. So this slight modification sorts that out. It cannot be seen from any normal viewing angle when it is all reconnected.

 

Secondly, remove the draw bar and cut off the outer 'hole' of the two at the tender end. This will leave you with an 'open end' hole but provided you don't cut off too much this will still engage quite happily and positively with the screw. Smooth off the cut end with a fine needle file and then replace the drawbar BACK-TO-FRONT ...with the cut end at the loco, rather than the tender. This absolutely prevents any possible chafing or snagging of the loco-tender wiring. As a bonus it also makes subsequent disconnection of the loco and tender much easier, as you no longer need to remove the screw entirely to do so. All you now have to do is slacken off the screw at the loco end and simply slide the drawbar out.

 

I should perhaps also mention that in general terms, you will also need curves of 30" radius or greater for the short loco-tender connection to be workable.

 

More generally, my own three J15's are nearing the stage where they can officially 'enter service'.  All have now been fitted with Kadee couplers (after modifying the extremely sloppy NEM pockets to hold the Kadees in proper alignment) and all have now been fitted with DCC and ZIMO sound, using the MX645 decoders together with Zimo SC68 'super-capacitors'. Two of the decoders were fitted via the provided plug but on the other loco I removed the Hornby decoder socket and 'hard-wired' the decoder, which gives more room in the tender. I did this as I wanted a lesser coal load in this particular engine.  As for the sound files, until such time as someone releases a genuine sound file for the J15 - which will not be for a while as the only surviving prototype is still in bits - I used Tony Molyneux's 'Terrier' sound file in each engine, as this is quite appropriate for a small 6-coupled loco with a similar LNER-type whistle and a Westinghouse pump.  For speakers, I used Loksound 28mm diameter speakers located in the recess provided in the tender floor and secured in place by the original shaped metal weight. the tender body itself acts as a very suitable sound chamber...but make sure there are no holes in it as it needs to be sealed for best sound reproduction. There is a video on You Tube of one of the locos in action (with apologies for the 'creaking tripod' noise - which doesn't exactly help. I will re-do the video when I have time without this distraction.

 

All have also now been renumbered and re-lettered as appropriate, two having the full ' BRITISH RAILWAYS' legend on the tender sides, as I am modelling the transition period between LNER and BR. Some detail painting has been done, mainly in the cabs. Incidentally, it should be noted that a very considerable proportion of the prototype engines had BLACK painted buffer-shanks, rather than the red ones on the Hornby model (although there were a few red ones - check your prototype!). I still have to sort this.

 

I am currently fabricating the tender tarpaulin support bars from brass strip and steel wire although these will not finally be added until last of all as they are necessarily extremely fragile until fitted.

 

Next up after that will be weathering - and all three will be weathered quite differently, ranging from filthy on the steam-braked example to 'fresh-from-overhaul' on one of the 'Westie' versions.  Finally I can then add the crews and coal up the tenders with real coal before adding the tarpaulin bars last of all.

 

Getting there.

 

- Don

 

How easily does the numbering/totems come off?

[Nimbus]

What do our P4 folks think? Brassmasters have mentioned an Easichas which I am sure will appear once someone has dissected the model as it is now. Exactoscale have the wheels spot on - I have five sets, of course! 

 

I wonder if the chas is going to be that easi in this case? To fold up around its cross-stretchers, it's going to need a flat mounting plane fore-and-aft somewhere on Hornby's chassis to mate with the cross-stretchers. Has that facility been lost in Hornby's evident creativity in this particular chassis design? I'd have preferred a High Level chassis myself. 

 

But I find myself in a quandary over Hornby's chosen variants. The loco I would like to represent had tender 'D' cutouts, the shallow cabside cutouts, and a Westinghouse pump. Now, I've been waiting so many years for Hornby to produce the Brush Type 2 in green, with roofbox, but no yellow ends, that its price has now inflated out of consideration. Will the same happen with the J15? Perhaps I should buy 2, reduce to kit form and rebuild what I want, then re-sell the other!

 

The Nim.

[orford]

Nimbus - it's already been done, with the 'hybrid' of parts left as a result being on eBay right now!

 

To answer Toboldlygo's message about how easily the numbers, etc come off - the simple answer is "Very easily" (as with most Hornby products).  You will need some methylated spirit (the purple stuff - NOT the stronger clear 'white spirit'!) and a decent supply of cotton-buds (any chemist).

 

Dip one end of a cotton bud in the meths and apply to the model with a repeated gentle rubbing action. Work slowly and carefully, to avoid getting meths on any adjacent numbers you want to keep - for example if you are only changing one or two numbers. It won't come off right away but will do so quite cleanly after a minute or two (or less), without damaging the underlying paintwork. Blot dry with a bit of kitchen towel (don't use 'tissue' as it tends to deposit fluffy bits). Then apply HMRS Pressfix transfers which are an exact match for the Hornby printing on this model - unlike some of their earlier models - so you can get away with changing just the end couple of numbers rather than the whole thing.

 

Don Mason

[orford]

Am a bit bemused by all this talk of a replacement chassis for this loco....................it seems to me that this will be particularly difficult, given that the lower part of the model's boiler is an integral part of the Hornby chassis.  I wonder how Flexichas, et-al are proposing to get around this one?

 

Having said that, why change it anyway when it is probably the best ever Hornby chassis from a running point of view?  An EM conversion would appear to be relatively simple by tweaking the wheels out a bit, so far as I can see.

[Paul Cram]

Am a bit bemused by all this talk of a replacement chassis for this loco....................it seems to me that this will be particularly difficult, given that the lower part of the model's boiler is an integral part of the Hornby chassis.  I wonder how Flexichas, et-al are proposing to get around this one?

 

Having said that, why change it anyway when it is probably the best ever Hornby chassis from a running point of view?  An EM conversion would appear to be relatively simple by tweaking the wheels out a bit, so far as I can see.

To get it to the correct gauge?